Pressure continued to pile on Qatari stocks for a third day yesterday as the country’s political and economic isolation drove shares to their lowest level since early 2016.
Shares in Dubai, by contrast had their best day of the year so far, as the index bellwether Emaar Properties soared on plans to list its real estate development arm.
The Qatar Exchange key index led losses in the Arabian Gulf, closing down just over 1 per cent.
Banking stocks were once again among the hardest hit; Qatar Islamic Bank fell 8.2 per cent, with Masraf Al Rayan and QNB shedding 2.5 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively.
The country’s headline index, now the world’s worst performing index for the year to date, has lost nearly 10 per cent of its value in the past three days, with some 38.6 billion Qatari riyals wiped off the value of stocks.
In the UAE, the Dubai Financial Market General Index ended up 2.52 per cent at 3,406.01, its best one-day performance since December, propelled by Emaar Properties.
The developer’s shares rose by 8.6 per cent to a three-month high of Dh7.60, after announcing plans to sell as much as 30 per cent of its real estate development business on the Dubai Financial Market, on what would be its largest IPO since the listing of Emaar Malls in 2014. Damac Properties and Emaar Malls were among the other main gainers.
Shares in Abu Dhabi were little changed, finishing up about 0.1 per cent at 4,454.14. Dana Gas led gainers, rising 10.9 per cent to 51 fils, after it said it had received a fresh US$40 million payment from the Egyptian government.
jeverington@thenational.ae
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